I have been a "silent" WW on this site for nearly a year and thought it about time I come out of the shadows and introduce myself.

I had a long hiatus from cycling for the best part of 20 years. I had the cycling bug all the way through Uni. When I finished my studies I had to do all those grown up things like get a career, marriage, travel, mortgage, kids, family life ........and cycling got lost amongst this hectic life. Mind you I wouldn't change anything as I have a beautiful partner and two great kids, 3.5 yrs and 1 yr old.

I slowly got back into cycling about 18months ago initially through mountain biking and about a year ago, road cycling. I must admit the bug bit pretty quickly again and was loving the little time I had on the bikes. I was slowly getting back into it and in the last 4 weeks the gods have conspired against me.........firstly I got taken out by a car (on my mtb). Nothing major....just a broken collar bone and a few cuts and bruises. Surgery and a little TLC from the missus and I am on the mend. Amongst all of this I have been relocated from Melbourne to Canberra to start a new job. I fear that my cycling will take another bit of a back seat as I get established in my new job and a new city. From the little I have seen of Canberra it looks like a great cycling city so I will make an effort to get out and enjoy my bike.

Speaking of which let me introduce you to my 'other' baby...my Guerciotti Comete. Carbon fibre using Deda's Black Soul tubing and Aluminium lugs. At 7.17 Kg (as seen in the pictures) she is not exactly a WW by the standards in this forum, but at least I did get a lot of inspiration for the build from this site and there are a number of WW parts to the bike. The frame & fork is not a real WW, they both come in at 1.89 Kg including the headset, cable guides & cage bolts. Why buy such a "heavy" frameset? Well it was a purchase from the heart as it was love at first site! Also, I haven't seen another on the roads yet. I have often thought about spending money to further reduce weight e.g. wheels, cranks, seat, forks..... but I have decided that the biggest bang for the buck in weight reduction will come from buying a new sub 1 Kg frame.....maybe in a year or so

Welcome to Canberra! Well I must say that you have picked a good time to move here, NOT! It was -6 this morning and is looking like being the same tomorrow. A lot of locals like myself, use these couple of feezing months to have a bit of an offy and get in the gym as sometimes it just gets too cold. We still always ride on the weekend in winter though.

Depending on your standard and how fit you are, the best way to meet other roadies is to do the sat morning bakery bunch which is Canberra's version of the hell ride I guess but without the crashes and dodgy tactics and red light running etc., were well mannered here. It really is an A and B grade ride though and averages about 40km/h when the pros like Matt Hayman and Mick Rogers and Onoene Wood are back in town. There are plenty of other bunches around though and it's an easy city to meet other roadies because it's a 2 club city. There is the Canberra Cycling Club, which I am a member of and Tuggeranong Vikings which caters more for the southside of Canberra.

Well your bike is very nice anyway, and it will be an easy one to spot when Im out training. If you are looking for some good cafe's, Dobinsons in the City is the pick but it is closed for renovation for a few weeks. Also Cafe Machiato in the bus interchange in Civic is good.

Thanks for the welcome and info Jason and particularly the heads up on the good cafes. I certainly do want to get out and enjoy the riding in Canberra, but what a to the system -6C is. I had no trouble getting out during the winter months in Melbourne but I think Canberra winters will take a bit of getting used to! Anyway, it's probably not such bad timing as I will need some time to settle into the new job. I will have to start planning how to keep fit so I can get out when it fines up. I am not sure I am in any shape to attempt the "saturday morning bakery bunch ride"

Canberra is a great riding town, there are heaps of nice rides in and around the city. Cotter-Urriara is a great look with a couple of nice hills and the ride out to Lake George on the old Federal Hwy is a nice ride with next to no cars to be seen.

There is a number of bunches around town depending on where you live. The larger leaves from the Bike Shed in Phillip there is a Northside bunch too, usually smaller. There are also heaps of small unorganised bunches around the place.

Definetly invest in some good winter clothes, it will stay cold for a couple of months to come.

Do you race? the Canberra Cycling Club www.canberracyclingclub.org.au runs both winter and summer races. The crits are excellet fun here and usually attract a pretty big crowd.

Hope to see you out and about, if I do, I will pop over and say hello.

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